Cotton-chopper.



P. ANDERSON.

COTTON CHOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1914.

1 ,1 Patented D80. 1, 1914.

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F. ANDERSON. COTTON CHOPPER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1914.

1,1 1 9,562. Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS (20.. PHOTU-LITHQ, WASHINGTON, D. C.

P. ANDERSON.

COTTON CHOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1914.

1 1 1 9 56% Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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designed to give the shifted to adjust the UNITED srarns PATENT vOFFICE.

FREDRIGK ANDERSON, OF LINDSBORG, KANSAS.

COTTON-CHOPPER.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FREDRICK ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Lindsborg, in the county, of McPherson and State ofKansas, have invented a new and Improved Cotton-0hopper, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description. Y

My invention relates to an agricultural machine for use in chopping outportions of cotton plants in a row, and particularly to a machine forthe indicated purpose in which a chopping hoe is given a rotary parallelmovement transverse to the direction of travel of the machine, and inwhich the hoe and its operating means are mounted to be shiftedlaterally in either direction, and also to be rocked in a vertical planewithout breaking the driving connection with the actuating means, theconstruction being driver control of the hoe and its movement so that itmay be position of the hoe of plants, or to be of the row when therelatively to the row thrown altogether clear row does not require to bethinned.

The invention will be particularly ex plained in the specificdescription following. Reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawings forming a part of this specification, in which similarcharacters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a cotton chopper constituting one embodimentof my invention, a portion of the frame and arched axle being omitted inthe interest of clearness; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail end view of the auxiliaryframe supporting the chopping hoe and its drive shafts, the view beingtaken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinalvertical section on the line H of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an enlarged view intransverse vertical section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1, of the actuatinggearing for the chopper hoe;-Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal section onthe line 6-6 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the chopping hoeand scraper employed in connection therewith; the crank shafts mountingthe hoe, and a brace bar being shown in section; Fig. 8 is a plan viewof the parts shown in Fig. 7; and Fig. 9 is a fragmentary front view ofone of the bearings for the Specification 01' Letters Patent.

tending,

by the numeral 26 and it Patented Dec. 1, 191 1. Application filed May6, 1914. Serial No. 836,678. i

drive shaft. and the I supporting hanger I thereof.

In constructing a practical embodiment of my invention, the frame l0maybe of suitable form to carry the operative parts, said frame beingmounted on an arched axle l1 mounting running wheels 12. A seat 13 maybe provided on the rear cross bar 10 of the frame 10, and a tongue leisprovided at the front and secured to the forwardly exconvergent sides 10of the frame and to across bar 10.

"At the front of the implement hangers 15 are provided at each. side;these may be secured at their upper ends to the under side of the f Fig.2) a'bent upper end 15 bolted to the under side of the frame. Thehangers 15 are located at the sides of the frame, and diagonal braces 16may extend from said hanger bars to be secured to th'elatter, as at 17,the braces converging upwardly and inwardly and secured at l6 adjacentto the center line of the frame. I prefer to employ additional braces 18extending from the hangers l5 rearwardly to -a connection with thearched axle 11. The hanger bars are simply to sustain the operativeparts and any equivalent construction will obviously answer. 7

Secured to the lower ends of the hangers 15, journal boxes or bearings19 are provided and formed preferably-with spaced lugs 20 whichreceivesaid hangers. Turning in the boxes 19 is a drive shaft 21, to beactuated by any approved means, as per the example hereinafter referredto, and a carrying frame for the chopping hoe and its shafts is hung onthe said shaft, the'said frame comprising side bars 22, and a rearcurved cross bar 23 The connection of the side bars 22 with the shaft 21may be by means of lugs 24 on loose collars 25, to which lugs the arms22 are suitably fastened.

The chopping hoe is designated generally is mounted adja cent to theforward end on the cranked portion 27* of a main crank shaft 27, whileat the rear portion the said hoe is mounted on the cranked portion 28 ofan auxiliary crank shaft 28. The shaft 27 is driven from the drive shaft21, for which purpose use is made of a bevel pinion 29 on said crankshaft 27, which meshes with abevel gear wheel 80,

rame parts, there being shown (see the latter in turn being driven by abevel wheel 31 fast on the drive shaft 21. The relation of the gearingelements 29, 30 and 31 to each other, to the drive shaft 21 and to thecarrying frame 2223 of the hoe is such that the necessary lateral andvertical move ments of the chopping hoe may be effected as hereinafterdescribed. Thus a loose sleeve on the shaft 21 is held between the fixedpinion 31 and a set collar 33 on the shaft, and said sleeve is formedwith a de pending stud 34 on the reduced portion of which theintermediate gear wheel 30 is loosely mounted. A. washer 86 and nut 87may be employed to sustain the gear wheel 30 in position.

Above the gear wheel 30, between the same and the sleeve 32, there ismounted on the stud 361 a loose collar 88, through which extends theforward end of the main crank shaft 27, the said shaft extending alsothrough the stud 34. The opening in the stud 8 1 for the passage of thecrank shaft is flaring at both front and rear from an approximatelycentral point, so that the sleeve may turn laterally in response to alaterally swinging movement of the shaft 27 and chopping hoe 26.

To provide a bearing for the front end of the shaft 27, in addition toits support in the sleeve 38 and stud 8st, a bearing box i0 is carriedon the depending end 11 of a bracket arm e1, said bracket arm beingpivotally mounted at its front end on the sleeve 32 at the upper side.In the present in stance the arm 11 is adapted to turn through an angleabout a vertical stud 12 on said sleeve 32, a nut e3 or equivalentretaining means being employed.

In order to provide a bearing and actuating means for the front end ofthe crank shaft 28, a laterally extending bracket arm 15 is secured tothe bracket 41, and carries a bearing box at at its outer end for thesaid shaft 28. Sprocket wheels 16, 47, are provided on the main crankshaft 27, and auxiliary shaft 28 respectively, and receive a-sprocketchain is, so that the shaft 28 will be driven from the main crank shaft27. and in unison therewith.

l? or the rear ends of the crank shafts 27, 28, suitable bearings T9 and50 are provided on frame auxiliary to the main hoe frame 22-28. Saidauxiliary frame is designated generally by the numeral 51. In order toprovide for the ready lateral swinging operator of the auxiliary frame51 and the chopping hoe 26 and its crank shafts 27, 28, foot-rests 52are formed on rearwardly ex tending brackets secured to the frame 51.Said brackets advantageously include spaced upper and lower members 53,54:, that mount friction rollers or spools 55 running above and belowthe transverse curved bar 23. The construction readily permits by the ofthe operator shifting the auxiliary frame 51 laterally on the bar 25.The auxiliary frame, in addition to the base bar 51, may consist of anarching top formed of separate side sections 56, 56*, bolted as at 57 t0the ends of the base 51. The arched bar has an eye 58 therein, orequivalent formation for the proper fastening of a tie rod orlongitudinal brace 59, which extends forwardly to a connection with. thebracket 41.

In connection with the chopping hoe which is in the form of a flat bladesharpened at its front end, I employ a scraper 60, which may consist ofan oblong plate, as indicated best in Figs. 7 and 8. The said scraper isyieldingly mounted in contact with the upper surface of the hoe so thatin the rotary movements of the latter in response to the turning of thecrank shafts 27, 28, the upper surface of the hoe will be subjected tothe action of the scraper. The said scraper blade 60 is mounted ontransversely disposed pivot pin 62 carried by arms 63 which aresupported from the rod 59, being secured to the latter by clips 6 f orequivalent means. A coil spring 65 on the pivot pin 62 presents members66, 67, which exert pressure against the arms 61 of the scraper bladeand the carrying arms 63. The member 66 of the spring bears against thecross bar 68 extending between the arms 61, while the members 67 of thespring connect with or bear against the arms 63, so that the springtends to throw the scraper downwardly against the hoe blade 26, but willpermit the scraper blade to yield vertically as the hoe rises inresponse to the turning of the shafts 27 28. To restrain the extent ofthe downward movement of the scraper blade, a stirrup 69 maybe employed,extending beneath the arms 61 and secured to the upper arms 63. Toadjust the stirrup vertically for varying its limiting action on thescraper blade, the stirrup 69 may have a series 0. holes 70, to receivethe pins '70 entering the arms 68. The described arrangement of thescraper enables the latter to effectivelyv perform the scraping actionon the hoe while conforming to the movements of the latter.

In order to provide for lifting the main rocker frame 2223 clear of therow of plants, a. lever 71 is provided on a transverse rocker shaft 72which carries rocker arms 7 3 connected with the side members 2 of themain hoe frame. The connection between the rocker arms 23 and the bars22 is preferably effected by means of link n1emhere 7 1' havingretract-ile springs 75 interposed therebetween.

In the present instance the drive shaft 21 is actuated from one of therunning Wheels 12, there being provided for the purpose a sprocket wheel77 on the running wheel 12, and a sprocket pinion 7 8 on the drive shaftarms 61, on a longitudinal 21, over which wheel and pinion a sprocketchain 76 runs, so that the turning of the running Wheel will actuate thedrive shaft.

The described construction affords a prac tical means for carrying myinvention into effect, and I would state in conclusion that I do notlimit myself strictly to the mechanical details herein illustrated,since manifestly the same can be considerably varied without departurefrom the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a frame pivotedvertically, a second frame pivoted at one end to swing laterally, andalso movable vertically with the swinging of the first frame, a chopperimplement, and chopperoperating means carried by said laterally swingingframe, a drive shaft, and a drive element on the shaft, there being adriven element comprised in said operating means and driven by saiddrive element.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, a drive shaft, a frame, aloose sleeve on the drive shaft, one end of said frame being supportedon the said sleeve to swing in a plane parallel with the axis of thesleeve, means for rocking said frame and sleeve on the, drive shaft, aloose member supported on the sleeve approximately at a right angle tothe axis of the latter, a shaft journaled in said frame and having oneend extending transversely through the said loose member, a drive pinionfast on the drive shaft adjacent to the sleeve, a loose wheel driven bysaid pinion on the drive shaft and supported on the sleeve approximatelyparallel with the latter, a driven wheel on the shaft journaled in theframe and driven by said loose wheel, and a chopper implement operatedby the shaft 11 the frame.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, a drive shaft, a drivepinion on said shaft, a loose sleeve on said drive shaft, a studextending from the sleeve at approximately right angles thereto, a loosesleeve on the said stud, a crank shaft extending at one end through thelast mentioned sleeve, said stud having a flaring opening receiving theend of the crank shaft, a wheel loose on the stud and driven by thedrive pinion on the shaft, a pinion on the crank shaft driven by saidloose wheel, a frame in which at one end to swing ter, the said 7 arms,carrying arms at an angle to the supthe crank shaft is journaled, oneend of the frame being supported on the first-mentioned sleeve to swingin a plane parallel with the axis of the sleeve, means for rocking saidframe and the sleeve on the drive shaft through an angle about saiddrive shaft, and a chopper implement on the frame and operated by thecrank shaft.

4:- In an apparatus of the character describe a horizontal drive shaft,a frame pivoted at one end on the drive shaft to rock vertically, aloose member on the shaft, a second frame pivotally supported at one endon said loose member and at its other end on the first frame, to rockvertically with the latter, the pivotal connection of the second framepermitting a transverse swinging movement on the loose member, means forvertically rocking the first frame through an angle about the driveshaft, pedals on the second frame, to swing it laterally, a chopperimplement on the second frame, and means for operating said implementfrom the drive shaft.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, a horizontal drive shaft,a loose sleeve on the drive shaft, a frame supported at one end on thesaid sleeve, a chopper implement on said frame, means for operating saidchopper implement from the drive shaft, a second frame pivoted to swingin a vertical plane, that end of the first frame opposite its pivotbeing supported on the second frame, lowering the second frame.

6. 11 an apparatus of the character described, a chopper implement,means for giving chopping movements to said implement, a scraperimplement yieldingly supported for scraping contact with the chop perimplement in the movements of the latscraper comprising supportingporting arms and pivotally connected therewith, a scraper bladepivotally held by said supporting arms, a spring tending to maintain thescraper blade in contact with the chopper and a stop for the supportingarms acting to limit the movement thereof by the spring.

and means for raising and In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDRICK ANDERSON. Witnesses:

DAVID OEDARHOLM, CARL PATRICK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

